Fish-treating machine



Feb. 4, 1941. R. BAADER EIAL 2,230,281

I Mai-TREATING MACHINE 'Filed April 22', 1958 7 sheetsesheet s Feb. 2:

R. BAADER ETAL 2,230,281 FISH-TREATING MACHINE 7 Sheis-Shet 5 FiledApril 22,. 1938 M N mi w WT w saw w fig: A \y Feb. 4,1941. R. BAADEREI'AL FISH-TREATING MACHINE Filed April 22, 1938 '7 Sheets-Sheet 6 Feb.4, 1941. R BAADER HAL 2,230,281

- FISH-TREATING momma Filed April 22,1933 7 Sheets-Sheet '7 lid 14.

. INVENTORS V m wvfimr' fizZfizIed/zzh Jaw/Mag v ATTORNEYS,

' others, the use of the Patented Feb. 4, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE 2,230,281 FISH-TREATING mcnmn Rudolf Baader and Karl FriedrichSchlichting,

' Lubeck, Germany Application April 22, 1938, Serial No. 203398 In Great22 Claims.

ing the backbones such fish can not be handled.-

in the ordinary fish-treating or dressing machines. Furthermore, thefish alter their shapes slightly under the influence of gravity and whenresting on their sides cease to be symmetrical and can not be dressedwith accuracy. Action on both dorsal and ventral surfaces of such fishis important in the production of fillets. The fish to be dressed varyin size.

In the United States Letters Patent No. 2,180,303, dated November 14,1939, and issued to Rudolf Baader,-one of the applicants of the presentapplication, there are described a method and machine for dressing fishof the kind described. An important object of the present invention istoprovide'improved guides for use in the said prior machine; Furtherobjects include, among this on the fish for guiding purposes, theprovision of improved guides for leading the fins cleanly betweencutting knives, the provision of improved means for correcting thedistortion of bones that have become twisted or deformed in storage ofthe fish, and the provision of improved means for detaching the fleshclose to the backbone.

In the said prior machine large fish, such as cod, are clamped at thetail and drawn tailfirst 85 past knives which make fllleting cuts in thefish, and the fish is engaged immediately infront of the knives by oneor more resiliently mounted guides which exert a braking action on thefish, so that the fish is fed to the knives with a substantiallystraight backbone. Further, in the said priormachine the fins of thefish are removed before the filleting cuts are made.

We have now found it desirable to modify the arrangement andconstruction of the guides with '45 V-shaped mouths described in thesaid Patent No. 2,180,303, A guide that will properly engage the thinpart of a fish close to the tail has too narrow a mouth to engage thelater and thicker part satisfactorily. .Accordingly we now make a 50guide in 'two parts arranged to move relatively to one another, one parthaving a narrow V- mouth and the other a wider V-mouth. The mounting issuch that the narrow V-part can move away from the fish towards thewiderV- part under pressure exerted by the fish, so that took place theBritain March 1, 193':

when the narrow part of the fish is inthe guide it is engaged by thenarrow v-part, and as the fish thickens it forces the two parts to moverelatively so that the wider V-part comes into engagement with the fish.I

- We have also found that the removal of the fins tends to weaken thebody of the fish, and that .it is better to leave the fins on the fishand to make use of them in the guiding of the fish.

For this purpose we use a pair. of thin plates to guide the fins betweena pair of parallel knives,

. and we mount such fin plates so that they .move

away from one another tolet the tail clamp pass and then move back intwo movements, namely a movement which brings the ends of the platesthat arenearer to the oncoming fish into engagement with wholly clearedguides into engagement with the fish when the tail. clamp has clearedthe guide. In this way we ensure that the fish is engaged by the guidesat the earliest possible moment, whereas if it were necessary to allowthe tail clamp to pass clear of the whole guide before any inwardmovement of the guide fish would remain unguided for longer than isdesirable, and indeed the leading parts of the fins mightnot enter thegap between the plates at all.

we find it convenient to provide the fin plates the fish before the tailclamp has the guide, and a movement which brings the far ends of thewithin the V-gu'ides. which themselves may each consist of two plates.Thus, our invention includes not only fin guides'but also other plateguides mounted to move towards the fish in the way described. Further,we prefer to provide guides consisting of fin plates within V-guides ,oneach side of the fish. g

Other features of our invention relate to the severance of the. fleshfrom the backbone. In such fish as cod, the flesh in the neighbourhoodof the backbone is united to the bones largely by a gelatine-likesubstance. Further, the backbone is essentiallytriangular in shape onthe back of the dish so that knives that work in planes parallel tothelongitudinal plane of symmetry of the fish cannot out exactly along thebackbone. In order to sever the flesh cleanly from the backbone, theflesh in the neighbourhood of the backbone is lifted oi! that bone byfinger-like members which act in planes coincident with or spaced closerthe cutting edges of a pair of parallelknives that make filleting cuts,one on each side ofthe backbone, and these members act ahead of theknives so that in the neighbourhood of the backbonetogether than thosewhich contain the knives pass idly through gaps made by the finger-likemembers. By this means afvery smooth severance is made along thebackbone without any loss of flesh. As the finger-like .members do notexert a cutting action and are not merely additional knives, notonlyneed they have no cutting edges, but preferably they are made blunt.

A further important effect is obtained by means of the finger-likemembers. Some fish, particularly those that have been kept in coldstorage for a little time, have twisted or deformed backbones which arenot straightened even when the fish is accurately and symmetricallypresented by 5'external guides to parallel knives arranged in pairs.Thus, V-shapedguides that receive the back and belly fins may engage thefish at the back and belly sides and to all appearances whollystraighten the fish so that the back and belly fins lie in the sameplane. Nevertheless,

within the fish the backbone may -be twisted through a small angle sothat the spike-like bones that project from it do not lie in the planejust referred to. When such a fish is cut the 5 knives tend to foul'thespike-like bones.- When finger-like members as defined above are used,

. they bear on the roots of the spike-like bones and, in moving alongthe backbone from one spike-like bone to the next, they serve to correctthe angle of the spike-like bones successively.

In so doing they bring the whole of each spikelike bone including the.tip, which, of course, is the most displaced from the true centre line,into the gap between the knives. In order to ensure that such correctionof-distortion takes place, we

prefer to bend the forward edge of each finger slightly outwards so'that each pair of fingers presents a slightly flaring mouth which willreceive the spike-like bones more easily than a narrow mouth.

. It will be understood that it is only over a part of the cutting edgeof each knife that "the finger leadsthe knife. This part is that closestto the backbone 'and it may advantageously extend for about half an inchup the spike-like bones from the backbone.

We prefer to use disc knives with bevelled edges, and to fix a finger toeach knife bearing so that its'inner surface is very nearly in contactwith the outer surface of the knife. For this purpose the finger must,of course, be bent and it isso shaped that its nose projects beyond theperiphery of the knife with its inner surface substantially infthe sameplane as the cutting ssedge of the knife. Although such a finger has ablunt nose that is not exactly parallel to the direction of travel ofthe-fish-we have found that it will in practice puncture the skin of thefish. Thus, we are able to avoid the necessity for I 50 making cuts inthe fish before the angle'of the side bones has been corrected ifnecessary. We are also able to avoid the provision of complicatedmechanism for making preliminary cuts.

There may be either one or two pairs of fin- 65 gers, that is to say,there may be (and'preferably is) a pair of fingers only on the back sideof the backbone or a pair may alsobe provided at the belly side.

Part of one machine embodying the present 7 invention and adapted forcarrying out the methods thereof is disclosed in the accompanying sheetsof drawings hereby made a part of this specification and in which.Figures .1, 2, 3 and 4 are plan views of a guide 16 structure designedto replace certain of the guides shown in the said prior patent, thefigures showing the structures in four successive operating positions.These figures show the cutting knives more or less diagrammatically inorder toillustrate their relative relation to the guide 5 members, thecutting knives being broken away adjacent the guide members to betterillustrate the underlying parts. v

Figures 5, 6 and '7 are sections taken on the lines V V, VI-VI andVII-VII in Figures 1, 3 10 and 4, respectively. These figures are drawnto a slightly larger scale than Figures 1 to 4 for-the purpose ofshowing the structure in greater detail.

Figure 8 is an elevational view of the knives, l the elevation beingtaken along a line centrally between the opposite pairs of knives andrespec tive knife supporting structures in a direction facing inwardlytoward the center of the machine. 1

Figure 9 is a section taken on the line IXIX of Figure 8 and showingboth pairs of filleting knives and respective knife supportingstructures.

Figure 10 is a section taken on the line XX of Figure 8. 25.

. Figure, 11 is a section taken on the line XI XI' of Figure 8 andshowing portions of the inner cutting assembly only. In this view theknife I28, hub, and supporting spindle have been removed in order tomore clearly show the struc- 30 ture'of the forks therebeneath.

Figures 12 and 13 illustrate to a much larger scale the action .of theknives and finger-like members on the fish, Figure 12 being a plan andFigure 13 being a section. 1 86 Figure 14 is a perspective view showing,as a whole, the filleting knives and guide mechanism,

' the supporting brackets for the knives andv other parts having beenbroken away to clearly show the cooperation of the parts. 1 40 Our wholemachine is constructed in general as described in the aforesaid priorpatent, but the whole fin removing mechanism is omitted. As before thefish is gripped at the tail by a clamp I00 carried by a rotary 'arm 6,and is en'- 45 gaged by guides which deliver it to two pairs ofhorizontal rotary disc knives I25, I26, I21 and I28. all these partsbeing identical with those thus numbered in the aforesaid prior patentand being actuated by drive means described more 60 in detail therein.

There are two guide assemblies, one on each side of the path taken bythe fish, and they replace the guides 2H! and 2 shown in the said priorpatent. They are carried by levers 206 and H2 which are mounted andoperated in exactly the sameway as the l'eve 'rs'thus numbered in theprior patent. Although a few (but not all) of the parts for operatingthese levers are shown, no further description of them will be given,except that as the arm 6 and tail clamp llll approach, the levers 206and 2 l2 are rocked against the action of a spring 221. This moves theparts from the position shown in Figure 1 to that shown in Figure 2, andmoves the guides proper 66 far enough apart to allow the tail clamp I IIto pass between them. I

Each guide proper consists of three parts. On the inner side of the fishtrack the first of these parts consists of a pair of plates I22 rigidwith 70 the lever 206 and being flared at the ends which are remote fromthe lever 206 to form a wide V-mouth capable of receiving theback ofarelatively large fish. The second of these parts comprises a guidemember indicated generally by the u spaced plates relatively closertogether than the reference numeral 123 and comprising a pair ofaforementioned plates 122. The plates 123a forming the guide unit 123are joined together at their right hand sides, as viewed in Figure 5, bymeans of the web or wall portion 123b, so that at this point the guideis of generally U-shaped sectional configuration. The edges of the guideopposite the. wall section 1231; are beveled or chamfered on theirinner. sides as at 123a to provide relatively narrow fish engaging guideportions. The guide assembly 123 is carried by lever 124,

which is pivotally mounted on the upper of the guide plates 122 by meansof the pivot screw 125, see Figures 1 to 4. The guide member 123. issecurely rigidly to the 1ever 124 by means of the machine screw 123d. Itwill be evident that the guide member 123 presents a relatively narrowV-mouth at bevels 1230 capable of properly and securely engaging a fishadjacent the tail end where the body is relatively narrow. The narrow ofvmouth of the member 123 is, however, too narrow to engage the thickpart of the back of a big fish for guiding purposes and thus merelybears against such portions of a fish brought in contact therewith.

An arm 12G fixed to the bar 124 by means of a machine screw 126a isanchored to one end or a spring 121 which is weaker than the spring 221,and the other end of which is anchored to the pin 123 on the member 206.The spring 121 urges the guide member 123 in a clockwise directionrelatively to the lever 206. The third guide part consists of two thinsheet metal plates 129 arranged parallel to one another and just farenough apart from one another for the fin of the fish to pass betweenthem. There is clearly shown in Figures 2, 3, 4,.6 and '1 a more or lessdiagrammatical representation .of a codfish at various stages. duringits-passage adjacent the plates 129. It will be seen that the metalplates 12. engage on opposite sides of the dorsal'fins. In all operatingpositions the tail ends of these plates 129 project between the discknives, whereas the plates of each pair of plates 122 and 130 are spacedfar enough apart from one another for the disc knives to work betweenthem. The plates may be welded or otherwise secured rigidly fiatwise tothe inner faces of the plates 123a as clearly shown in Figures 1 to '1.It will be understood that thepairs of knives are swung apart from oneanother to let the tail clamp pass.

between' them in the manner described in the 122 under the influence ofthe spring 121 and car- I as the plates ries the guide plates 129 with;123 are made rigid with the member 123.

The guides proper on the titer side closely;

resemble those iust described. The lever' 2i2 carries, aflixed rigidlythereto, a pair of parallel spaced plates formed ass'a unit anddesignated by the reference numeral 130. The pair oilplates extend awayfrom the lever 2l2, as shown in Figures 1 to 7, inclusive, and arebeveled or chamfered at their extremities as at 130a. to present agenerally V-shaped guiding mouth that is wider than the guide mouthpresented by the guide member 123 heretofore described, but relativelynarrower than the guiding mouth presented by the flared 'plates 122.These guide .plates 13. are designed "to enter. the belly cavity of thefish.

The second guide part on the outer sideconsists of a guide memberindicated generallyby the reference numeral 131 substantially identicalwith the guide member 123, previously described, and carried by a lever132 which is piv-' otally mounted on the .upperguide plates 130 by meansoi! the pivot screw 1320. The guide member 131 in general comprises apair of spaced parallel plates 13la joined adjacent their left-handextremities, as viewed in Figure 5, by means of the transverselyextending wall portion 13). Along their free extremities the opposedplates or walls 131a are bevelled or chamfered on their inner sides asat 13lc. The guide member 13! is rigidly secured to the lever 132through the agency of a machine screw 13Id. The lever 132 carries an arm133 rigidly secured thereto in the position shown in Figures 1 to 4 bymeans of a machine screw 1330. The arm 13.3, at a point spaced from thelever 132 is secured to the end of spring 134, the other end of which isanchored, as at 135, on the lever 2l2. The free guide part on the outerside of the machine comprises two sheet 'metal plates 136 generallyidentical in configuration and serving an analogous purpose to plates129. The plates 138 are welded or otherwise secured fiatwise against theinner faces of the walls or plates 13 la.

As the levers 206 and 2l2 are allowed to move back again the variousparts take up the position shown in Figure 3. It'will be seen that theguide parts 123 and 131 have engaged the tail end of the fish and thatthe ends of the guide plates 12! and 136 are engaging the fins. Thus, ashereinbefore pointed out, the spaced guide plates 123 extend on eitherside of the dorsal fin while the pair of plates 136 oppositely engage,the anal fins on the lower portion of the fish. In Figure 3 123 and 136should come into operation at the.

earliest possible moment in order to engage the beginnings of the finsand thus be able to straighten any bent fins. In the position Shown inFigure 3 the tail clampillfl is not clear of the whole guide structure,but owing to the rocking permitted by the pivotal mounting of the guidemembers 123 and HI these parts are able to engage the fish while theplates 122 and 130 are still far enough apart from one another to allowthe tail clamp to pass between them.

when the tail clamp has cleared the guide completely the position is asshown in Figure 4. At this, stage the part of the fish that is engagedby the guide is thickening and the guide members having relativelynarrow fish engaging porions, namely, parts 123 and 13l, are beingpushed outwardly against the springs 121 and 134, andthe wide V-mouthformed by the plates 122 is taking over the guiding at the back of thefish while the intermediate v-part formed by the bevelled edges of theplates 130 is also coming into engagement on the belly side of the'fishand will shortly enter the belly cavity. It is moved into the bellycavity under the control of a measuring arm identical with the measuringarm I45 in the aforesaid prior patent.

It will also be seen that the guide plates I23 and 136 lead the finscleanly between the two disc knives of.. each pair.

Finger-like members are associated with the inner pair of knives I21 andI28, and it is these knives and associated parts that are shown inFigure 8. The knife I21 is carried by a hollow shaft. all! and. as inthe prior patent, the knife I28,is carried by a spindle 239 within theshaft III. The spindle or shaft 239 and the rotary disc knife I 28 areadapted to be moved downwardly in accordance with the size of the fishand/or the variation in the configuration of the bony structure'thereof,as more completely shown and described in the aforesaid patent. Movingdownwardly, the lower end of the shaft 239 bears against a part attachedto a lever 251a. This lever 251a corresponds to the lever 251 of theaforesaid patent but is 'of different form and has, besides the functionof supporting the shaft 239, the,additional function of carrying lowermember GM of a pair of finger-like members which have the function, asdisclosed below, of insuring that the fish be accurately presented tothe disc knives I21 and I28. Lever 251a is rotatably mounted on thebracket 259 by means of a pivot pin' 301a passing through a .boss onthe'lever 251a and.fixed to the bracket 259a.

The upper and. lower guides-305a and 306a have a function similarvtothat of the corresponding guides 305 and 306 of the aforesaid patent.The upper guide 305a is attached to the bracket 259a by means of a pieceof angle iron riveted to the guide'andto the lever 251a, and thelower'guide 306a is riveted or bolted to a horizontal surface on thelever 251a.

The spring 26I normally urges the lever 251a upwardly about its pivotpoint as viewed in Figure' 8, and, accordingly, when the shaft 239 islowered or raised the lever 251a is caused to rock about its pivot pointin accordance with the size of the fish, under the control of themeasuring arm 5b through the medium of the lever 245 in the mannerdisclosed in the aforesaid patent. g

The hollow shaft SIB, is carried in a sleeve 262 to which is fixed a,ring 624 by means of a set screw 6I2. The ring 624 is integral with anarm B II which rigidly carries a finger-like member 6I3 which lies ontop of the knife I25 and projects over the edge of the knife, being ofsicklelike shape from its nose to the point where it crosses theperiphery of the knife. The fingerlike member (H3 is fixed to the arm 6Hby means of rivets 6I3a, see Figures 8 and 10. A second finger-likemember 8 is arranged in asimilar Way below the knife I28 and is fixed tosupporting bar I5 by means of rivets 6M0, extending through a horizontalextension 6| 5a thereof which extends above and parallel to the mainportion of the bar 6I5. At the end of the supporting bar 6I5 oppositethe extension 6I5a there is secured by rivets 6I1a an arm '6" whichterminates in a fork 6I8.

The supporting bar 6| 5 of the lower fingerlike member SM is pivoted toone end of the rocking arm 251a which, in this respect, differs from therocking arm 251 of the prior patent as above stated. The arm 251a isprovided at one end with the supporting member 62I riveted adjacent theextremity of the arm 251a, which member 62I supports the shaft 239 inthe same manner "as the arm 251 supports the shaft 239 of the priorpatent. Integral with the member 251a is a bar 522 which extendstherefrom with a portion which lies parallel with and below thesupporting member 62l, the parts MI and 622 forming the equivalent of apair of tines or a fork.

Supporting bar 6 I 5 is provided with a recess on the-upper surfacethereof to receive the disc BIG which is countersunk wi in its uppersurface and-drilled to receive the olt 620. having a fiat 2,230,281 g 7head 623. The bolt 620 and the disc-BIG, when the bolt is loosened,permit the bar 5I5 to pivot about the axis of the shaft 239.

A pin 6I9 fixed to and projecting downwardly from the carrier arm BIIenters the space between the prongs of fork 6l8 of the arm IiI1.

It will be clearly, understood that with the arrangement abovedescribed, rocking of the arm 251a about its pivot 301a moves both theknife I28 and the finger-like member 514 .in a vertical direction andthat, if it is desired to adjust the.

finger-like members H3 and 6 about the axis of the disc knives I 21 andI 28, the set screw 6I2 and the bolt 620 are loosened, whereupon angularrotation of one finger-like member causes the other finger-like memberto rotate through the same angle.

In' operation the two pairs of knives are swung apart from one anotherto let the tail clamp pass, and then swing together under the influenceof a spring 281. ried by a bracket 259 which is mounted to rock 20 Thearm 251d is carabout the sleeve 262, and on the other side of the fishthere is a similar arm 256 carried by a bracket 258. These bracketsarealso swung apart to let the tail clamp pass, and they,are swungtogether by a spring 3I3 just after the knives swing together. Thefinger-like members therefore move angularly around the knife axis to aslight extent during the closing movement. As the knives and finger-likemembers thus close, the finger-like members advance into the fish in adirection towards the backbone from the,

ridge of the back, and it is found that they can easily pierce the skinof the fishvwhen they enter the fish at this angle. The finger-likemembers take up the position shown. in Figures 10 and 12, and withoutbreaking or damaging theflesh separate, cleave, or wedge it off thespike-like bones in the neighbourhood of the backbone. Since, as isclearly shown in Figures 8 and 13, the ends of the finger-like membersare bent so that they form between them a slightly flared mouth, any

of the spike-like bones that are distorted are easily caught in themouth, and so the fingerlike members ensure that the fish is accuratelypresented to the knives and that the latter do not cut the bones.

Figure 14 is a perspective view of the knives and guide mechanism takenat a time when the tail clamp is passing between the parts, alloverlying parts having been removed and broken away in order to show thecoaction of the elements which comprise the present invention. Inf

this view the roller I89 on the arm I88 isshown engaging the cam 19 inorder toforce apart the arms 2I2 and 296 carrying the guide members."

In this-view, also, are disclosed the forked ends ofthe control'arms 294and 295, engaging, re-

spectively, the sleeves 226 and I81 from which the arms'206 and 2|2extend for adjusting the fin guide mechanism vertically. These forkedarms function to adjust the fin guiding members vertically in.accordance with the vertical adjustment of the filleting knives, andtheir opera- Figure 13 shows clearly that the leading edges 625 and 826of the finger-like members M3 and- 6I4 are spaced just closer togetherthan the knives I21 and I28, so thatthe knives enter the gapsformed bythe separating action of the finger-like members and in no way manglethe flesh.

We claim:

1. In a machine for dressing fish, a guidestructure for delivering thefish to knives or the like tion is disclosed in detail in the aforesaidpatent.

comprising a guid having a relatively narrow mouth, a second guide witha relatively wide mouth, means operatively connecting and supportingsaid guides, means to cause a relatively narrow part of the fish to beengaged by saidfirst named guide, and means to produce relative movementbetween the fish and the guides to bring a relatively wide portion ofthe fish adknives or the like, a guide adapted to engage a relativelynarrow part of the fish, and a second guide adapted to engage arelatively wide part of the fish, said guides being mounted for relativemovement and said mounting being adapted 'to permit the first namedguide to engage relatively narrow parts or the fish and to moverelatively to permit the second named guide to engage relatively wideparts of the fish.

3. A machine for dressing fish having filleting knives and a guidestructure for delivering the fish to the knives, said guide structurecomprising a relatively narrow guide member and a relatively wide guidemember, means to cause said first named guide member to engage a rela-3o tively narrow part of the fish, and means to produce progressiverelative movement between the fish and the guide members, said firstnamed guide member being resiliently mounted whereby to move relativelyas the thicker portions of 5 the fish come opposite the guide members topermit said second named guide member to engage said thickened portions.

4. A machine for dressing fish having filleting knives and a guidestructure for delivering the 40 fish' to the knives, said guidestructure comprising a relatively narrow guide member and a relativelywideguide member, means to cause said first named guide member to engagea relatively narrow part of the fish, and means to produceprogressiverelative movement between the fish and the guide members, said firstnamed guide member being resiliently mounted whereby to move relativelyas the thicker portions of the fish come opposite the guide members topermit said second named guide member to engage said thickened portions,said first named guide member being adapted to receive a fin of the fishand to guide the said fin in a predetermined path toward said knives.

56 5. In a fish dressing machine, means to move a fish in apredetermined path, a guide adjacent said path for engaging a fish movedin said Path, and 'means to move one end 01' said guide toward said pathinto fish engaging position, said means 60 being operative tosubsequently bring the other end of said guide toward said path inposition to engage a fish passing therein.

6. In a fish dressing machine, means to move a fish in a predeterminedpath, an elongated guide adjacent said path for engaging a fish moved insaid path and guiding the fish to cutting knives, and means to move oneend of said guide toward said path into fish engaging position, saidmeans being operative to subsequently bringthe other end of said guidetoward said path into position to guide the .fish to the said knives.

7. In a machine for dressing fish, including substantially parallelknives, a guide part com- 75 prising guide plates for guiding a fish tothe knives, fish conveying means adapted to move the fish adjacent saidguide part into operative relation with the knives, means to move saidguide part from the said path to permit said conveying means to pass,and means to return one end of said guide part into position to engagethe fish before the conveying means has wholly cleared the guide part,said last named means being operative to bring the other end of saidguide part into engagement with the-fish 10 when the conveying means hascleared the guide part.

8. In a machine for dressing fish, guide structure for delivering fishto treating instrumentali- "ties, means adapted to grasp a fish by thetail l5 and convey it in a predetermined path past the saidinstrumentalities, said guide structure comprising fin guides adjacentsaid path and being adapted to engage a fin of a fish for guiding thefish'to said instrumentalities, and means to 20 move the end of said finguides nearer the oncoming fish into guiding position before the saidgrasping means has'wholly cleared the guide structure, said means beingoperative subsequently to move the other end of said fin guides 25 intofish guiding position.

, 9. In a machine for dressing fish, guide structure for delivering fishto treating instrumentalities, means adapted to grasp a fish by the tailand conveylit in a predetermined path past the 30 saidinstrumentalities, said guide structure cornprising fin guides ofsubstantial length adjacent said path and being'adapted to engage a finof a fish for guiding the fish to said instrumentalities, said guidemeansbeing relatively remote 35 from said path to permit passage of saidgrasping means, and means to move the end of said fin guides nearer theoncoming fish into guiding position before the said grasping means haswholly cleared the guide structure, said means being operativesubsequently to move the other end 01' said fin guides into fish guidingposition.

10. -A machine according to claim 9 having two guide structures, asdefined therein, one on either side of the path taken by the fish andadapted to 5 engage the fish therebetween.

11. A machine for dressing fish comprising-a pair of spaced cuttingknives adapted to cut inwardly toward the backbone of a fish, each knifehaving a finger-like member associated therewith, 50 each of saidfinger-like members projecting forw'ardly of the innermost edge of theknife and being arranged in position to wedge the flesh from thebackbone of the fish, said finger-like members extending laterallybeyond said innermost knife 55 edges to direct the fiesh beyond the saidknife edges whereby the cutting edges of the knives will pass throughthe space formed between thefiesh and the backbone without cutting thewedged flesh while slicing the fiesh at points spaced sub- 60 stantiallyfrom the backbone, said machine being free from knife means adapted tosubstantially approach the backbone in advance of said fingerlikemembers.

12. A machine for dressing fish comprising a 55 pair of spaced, parallelfilleting knives adapted to cut inwardly toward the backbone of a fish,each knife having a finger-like member associated therewith, each ofsaid finger-like members projecting forwardly of the innermost edge ofthe knife andbeing arrangedin position to wedge the flesh from thebackbone of the fish in advance of the cutting action of the knives,said finger-like members having oppositely flared forward edges foroppositely engaging and straightening the 76 i rimming g i V backbone ofthe fish while slicing the flesh at points spaced substantially from thebackbone,

said machine being free fromknife means adapted to substantiallyapproach the backbone in advance of said finger-like members.

13. In a' machine for dressing fish comprising .a rotary disk knife,means rotatably supporting said knife, 9. finger-like wedging memberoperatively connected with said knife supporting means'and extendingoutwardly from thecutting edge of said knife to engage the backbone ofthe fish and wedge the flesh therefrom, said operative connecting meansbeing adjustable to permit adjustment of the said wedging membersubstantially about the axis of the knife.

14. In a machine for dressing fish'comprising a rotary cutting knife,means to cause relative movement between the knife and a fish inpredetermined relationship to produce a cut in said fish, a wedgingmember having a portion extending forwardly of the cutting edge of theknife in wedgingly, separate the flesh therefrom, said.

the direction-of relative movement opposite the backbone to engage thebackbone of the fish and wedging member having a surface adapted todirect the separated flesh away from the backbone at all points ahead ofthe knife and outwardly' of the plane of the cutting edge of the knifewhereby the knife edge operates through an open space at all pointsadjacent the backbone, said machine being free from knife means adaptedto substantially approach the backbone in advance of said wedgingmember.

15. In a machine for dressing fish, a pair of finger-like wedgingmembers spaced a'predetermined distance, means for producing relativemovement between said relative finger-like members and a fish to causethe finger-like members to pass oppositely along the backbone of thefish to wedgingly separate. the flesh therefrom, and means to controlthespacing of the said fingerzlike members in accordance with ththickness of the backbone of the fish, said machine being free fromknife means adapted to substantially approach the backbone in advance'ofsaid'fingerlike members.

16. In a machine for dressing comprising a pair of spaced, finger-likewedging members,-

means to cause said finger-like members to penetrat'e the flesh of aflsh and to move toward the backbone thereof, said membersbeing spacedat all points adjacent their extremities, and means 1 I to producerelative movement between the wedging members and the fishlongitudinally of the backbone thereof whereby to separate the fleshfrom the backbone.

- 17. A machine for dressing fish comprising means for separating theflesh from the, bony I a structure by wedging the fieshof the fish ofiz'the backbone in a direction generally longitudinally thereof, means forholding the separatedfiesh in spaced relation to the backbone, and-means for making a cut inwardly toward said wedged -ijofl portionwithout cutting the flesh so separated.

18. A machine for dressing fish comprising means for separating theflesh from the bony structure by parallel cuts in the fish extendinginwardly toward the backbone, and means arranged in advance of allflesh-cutting means for '5 wedging the flesh off the backbone withoutproducing cuts'in the fieshso separated, said wedging means beingconstructed and arranged to hold the wedged fiesh away from the backboneadjacent the inner edge 'ofthe cutting means. 10 19. In a fish-dressingmachine having means to move a fish in a predetermined path pasttreatment instmmentalities, a guide adjacentv said path for engaging afish moved in said path, and means to move one end of said guide towardsaid 5 path in a fish-engaging position and to subsequently bring theother end of said guide toward said path in position to engage afishpassing therethrough. I

20. In a fish-dressing machine having means to 20 move a fish in apredetermined path past treat- I ment in'strumentalities, guide meansadjacent said path and comprising a narrow guide member and a wide guidemember, means for moving said guide means toward said path in afish-engaging 25 position, and resilient means adapted to bias saidnarrow guide member toward fish-engaging position so' as to first arrivein fish-engaging position. a n

21. In a machine for dressing fish comprising a rotary disc knife, meansrotatably supporting 30 said knife, and a wedging member operativelyconnected with said knife-supporting means and extending forwardly fromthe cutting edge of the knife to engage the backbone of the fish andwedge the flesh therefrom, said wedging member to having a fixedrelationship ahead of. a predetermined portion only of the cutting edgeof said. knife such-that the knifeidles in a space between the backboneand the knife edge while severing adapted to engagethe body of the fishfor guiding the fish in said path, each guide member also comprising apair of relatively thin guide plates, disposed in parallel relation tothe natural position of the fins extending centrally of the back andbelly portions, and arranged to engage said fins bfthe fish foradditionally guiding'and positioning the fish with respect to thetreating ins'trumentalities. Y

RUDOLF BAADER, 1

FRIEDRICH SCI-ILICH'I'ING.

